Session 11: From the earth did we come.
General Summary
Flamesday, 9 Blooming, 998 Y.K.
The morning started with Gears stopping by to open a tab at the Heart and Hammer, a freshly minted ingot of Brelish silver in hand. They'd gotten a side gig doing some basic guard work down in the Cogs, nothing serious. As a precaution, however, they wanted to make sure they'd passed their favorite repairhouse some advance currency. Plus, as they'd noted before, they still owed for the repairs to Barrer's arm; the forged had lost her right forearm when her partner Transom had thrown a magic missile at her. Bell reminded Gears that she'd made specific arrangements with Barrer to fix her arm in exchange for a favor, but Gears waved the talk off, saying Barrer was too inexperienced to take care of herself, much less a half-baked wandslinger like Transom.
Before the discussion could break down from there, Spark stepped in to ask Gears about the job, but Gears repeatedly said it was a simple escort mission through the Cogs, getting some supplies from Ashblack to Blackbones without incident. When Spark reminded Gears that that meant passing through Khyber's Gate, which was so named for a reason, Gears only shrugged and said their contact told them this was a new team for an old job, and it ought to be straightforward. Armed with that information, she let Gears go with only the warning to watch their back, which Gears accepted with a wave.
As Spark prepared to follow Gears and ensure her friends' mission went successfully, Milli told the group that she needed to seek out someone from House Jorasco who could help her learn arcane healing techniques. Relic agreed to accompany the unicorn, and the two set out for a healing facility. When they arrived, though, the Jorasco representative took one look at Relic and scowled, only to sigh heavily and rub his temples. Even if Jorasco was inclined to share their secrets, he said, he had far more pressing issues than one unicorn and her madcap quest. Lately, the Jorasco clinics in the lower quarters were filling up with dust addicts, and it was starting to creep into the middle districts. Fearing an epidemic, but with no real contact with the forged community, the Jorasco agent offered a deal to Relic and Milli: if they could find and put a stop to the spread of dust among the organics, he'd see what he could do to get them some information.
Seeing as Spark and Bell were both regular users of dust, they immediately went to their dealers to find out what they could. Of the three suppliers they knew, only one had had any trouble with leaks into the general populace, and the one forged caught selling dust on the side was fired and cast out of Sharn. None of them could turn up any leads. All they could tell the pair was that dust mostly came from Cogsgate, which meant it was probably being produced under the city somewhere. Lacking any further leads, the pair resumed their preparations for that night, as the party went down to the Cogs to watch over Gears' new operation.
The Cogs are a vast city-beneath-a-city, its air thick with ash and smoke and coal-dust. It's an industrial zone hidden below the towers of Sharn populated mostly by forged, dwarves, gnomes, and what goblins and related races remained in the city once Droaam declared its independence. The path down to the Cogs lay in Cogsgate, via a giant screw elevator in Lower Tavick's that descended into the everbright twilight below. Once in the Cogs, Spark and Relic followed traces of Gears and their company's passing, through Blackbones and the "Droaam district" of Khyber's Gate and into Ashblack, house Cannith's playground above the sewers.
In Ashblack, the party found two things of note: Gears taking control of a cart full of waterskins from a cloaked figure, and a hobgoblin that seemed to be taking far too active an interest in said cart from a respectable distance. As Gears and their crew escorted the wagon through the Cogs, the hobgoblin followed, quietly humming to herself as she did. Milli attempted to scry on her, but her magic revealed only a blank space where the magic of the world seemed to smear around her. At no point did she make a move on the wagon, but she remained quite intent on staying as close to it as she could without being spotted. Zer reached out with his mind to trip the hobgoblin in an attempt to buy the cart some distance, but she rolled quickly to her feet and turned to look for who had interfered.
Realizing that neither Bell nor Milli would be able to stealthily follow either Gears or the hobgoblin through Khyber's Gate, the pair opted instead for the loudest distraction they could manage. They struck up a story of "Carmine the Boulder", a local champion of the Race of Eight Winds renown for self-injury during his runs. Almost immediately on mention of his name, a belligerent orc stinking of rotten beer approached the forged and attempted to intimidate the larger alchemist, then fell to drunken ranting about his favorite athlete instead. Through clever wording and careful prodding, Bell worked the orc up to a tusked frenzy and provoked a small crowd of Race enthusiasts to follow her, hurling invectives and bragging about their personal favorites. This culminated in the Watch arriving and announcing that the crowd needed to disperse immediately.
This, of course, provoked a riot. As the Watch fell to arresting and subduing all who refused to disperse, the two at its epicenter snuck away from the rolling fight and quickly caught up to their companions just in time to see the cart traversing the gap into Blackbones. As Gears and their crew left Khyber's Gate, the hobgoblin nodded and faded back into the monstrous crowd. The group hastened to meet up with Gears, who seemed quite annoyed at having been tailed, twice.
Confronted about moving contraband into the city, Gears confessed that ever since the Reidrans had bought most of the real estate in Precarious, their old home, they'd been feeling the pinch. They'd had to abandon their old living quarters, which also cost them easy access to newcomers to Sharn. Their new home in Cogsgate was hidden from view, except to those who couldn't afford to pay a few copper to watch some forged duel it out. Barrer was the first recruit that had stuck it out from substitute to regular, but they'd gotten their arm blown off in a reckless game with Transom. Gears was, simply put, afraid of the future that awaited them and their crew. They'd taken the gig because they needed the money, and they didn't ask too many questions because the job came from a reputable source: Crucible, owner of the Red Hammer, down in Blackbones.
Bearsday, 10 Blooming, 998 Y.K. The Red Hammer was one of the best-appointed forged gathering houses in the Cogs: incenses and flavors to share, booths for gaming or chatting, and mats in semi-private spaces for those down on their luck. Crucible was a short and leanly built envoy that met Bell at the door with a shake and a smile. They told the party to go see Smith at the Waters of Onatar, and if Smith approved them, they'd tell the party what they knew. Smith turned out to be a priest of Onatar guarding a mystic spring whose waters were blessed of the Caster in Bronze, and once taking a blessing with the party, he told them of his fears that House Cannith was harboring agents of the Dark Six. He asked the party to extend an invitation to d'Cannith Merrix to come take a blessing at the spring and offered the same to the group. They accepted, and the priest sent them back to Crucible with his approval. Crucible told the party that he'd arranged the deal between a forged named Lem and Gears. Crucible, knowing Gears had needed the money, proposed them as guards for a shipment that Lem had needed to make through Khyber's Gate, and that if it went well, there would be future business in it. Crucible had suspected it was dust, but had asked no questions, trusting Lem as a fellow forged that had also gotten the nod from Smith. When asked about the dust leaks, Crucible said they didn't take it and they trusted Gears not to do so, but they admitted they didn't know more than that. Another lead ended. As they returned back to the Heart and Hammer, though, Barrer caught up to them. She and Gears had gotten into a fight about Transom, and then Gears and Transom had fought, and Transom had stormed off. It was then that Spark and Bell agreed to talk to Gears, once they'd gotten Barrer's arm fixed. As Bell worked on Barrer's arm, the young forged repeated her claim that Transom had done only what she'd asked, that she had a defect in her metamatrix that let her push a piece of her inner spellworking outside herself to disrupt other magical effects. She could put out light spells by touching them, and she'd successfully caught Transom's magic missile twice before she missed and blew up her arm. As part of the repairs, Bell put a focusing lens in the palm of Barrer's arm, and Milli agreed to provide her a light to prove herself. As the party watched, Barrer demonstrated that she could, in fact, put out a spell by touching it, something that interested Zer and Relic greatly as a manifestation of her inner will. As Relic began to train the younger forged in form and technique, Spark and Bell went to Gears to inform them that they had something special in Barrer, but that they couldn't just keep treating her like porcelain. Gears spoke again of their fears of the future, of obsolescence and of destitution, but ultimately they agreed that Barrer needed training that they couldn't provide and they asked the party for help. Spark and Bell told Gears they'd look after Barrer, and they'd help the old forged find their footing again.
Crownsday, 11 Blooming, 998 Y.K. Barrer came late to the Heart and Hammer for her lessons, and when she arrived, she was too distracted to focus. Transom hadn't come back to the stable last night, and she had spent the night worrying about him. Spark took off to look for clues, only to have Transom's trail go cold at a bar near the screw elevator, accompanied with minor signs of a scuffle and smears of coal-dust. Spark called for Bell, and the two called for the party to follow them back into the Cogs. As Relic left the Heart and Hammer, he spotted Barrer trying to follow him, even after strictly telling her to stay behind. The party worked a small illusion to mask their destination, and Barrer followed the illusion of the group off into Cogsgate while they disappeared down the screw elevator to ask after a humming hobgoblin. Several buskers flat-out refused to answer, one going so far as to pack up and leave in response to the question. Finally, though, they met a goblin that said they must mean "Zhakil," and suggested that they ask around at "Shamukaar." The largest bar in Khyber's Gate was run by the Queen of Stone and had a reputation for strict neutrality, enforced by the threat of petrification. Inside, the bartender -- a hobgoblin named Nareyet -- laughed when the party spoke of a lost friend and reminded them that loved ones disappear every day in Khyber's Gate. When they asked to speak with Zhakil, however, she said she'd pass on the message and told the party to return tomorrow. She then offered Bell a pour of their house draft, a foul-smelling liquor and turned Milli's stomach on a whiff. "On the house," Nareyet insisted, and Bell agreed, promptly stepping outside and pouring the beer on the ground in full sight of the bar. That brought a laugh from Nareyet, which gave the party minor hope that they'd return to better news.
Thronesday, 12 Blooming, 998 Y.K. On returning to Shamukaar, the party found Nareyet no less irritating, insisting that the party come back tomorrow once more. This time, however, Bell and Spark refused to take no for an answer and demanded that time was short. Though Bell had to remind Spark that violence would get them killed, the massive forged was no less sharp with the bartender, insisting that taking Transom was an attack on their extended family. At that, Nareyet pointed to the corner table where Zhakil sat, watching the players carefully. The party approached and boxed Zhakil into her seat, but the hobgoblin remained unmoved. She said that orders had come from Cazha Bloodwing, and that she didn't lay a finger on Gears or his crew during the mission. Her job had been to find out who had taken their job. The party insisted on speaking with Cazha, and Zhakil stepped outside long enough to let out a piercing whistle. A few moments later, she returned and said Cazha would arrive shortly. True to Zhakil's word, a harpy entered the bar and walked directly to Zhakil's table, addressing the party as the scabs who'd stolen her job. She informed the party in no uncertain terms that she'd had a deal with Cinnabar to make Daask -- a criminal gang spanning western Khorvaire -- the sole provider of dust to Sharn. She even had a clasp-and-shake deal entitling her to a twenty-percent take off the top -- one wineskin in five -- to do with as she saw fit. As she saw it, Gears' involvement was already evidence the forged couldn't be trusted. As such, kidnapping Transom was simply her way of getting somebody's attention, shaking the tree to see who responded. If the forged were going to go back on their word so easily, she said, they should be ready to watch their collective backs. She was even eager to tell the party where Transom could be found: in the upper alcoves of the old temple, down in the lower sewers. If they could go in there and get their friend back, they could have him. In a moment of impulse, Zer tried to read the location of Gears' friend from her mind, but when he followed her thoughts to the upper alcoves, he found himself in a place of impenetrable darkness. There was no sign of Transom, but strange shapes moved through the darkness according to Zer's inner vision: a basilisk, at least, and other creatures the psion couldn't so easily identify. The presence of the basilisk was enough to send Zer back to the party, whereupon Cazha rose from the table, Zhakil following. The two walked to the front door, whereupon Cazha turned and reminded the party very pointedly that while Shamukaar was explicitly neutral territory, Khyber's Gate very much was not. The two then departed, leaving all eyes on the party as they carefully made their way back to the great screw elevator and to the surface, to prepare to recover Gears' missing comrade.
Bearsday, 10 Blooming, 998 Y.K. The Red Hammer was one of the best-appointed forged gathering houses in the Cogs: incenses and flavors to share, booths for gaming or chatting, and mats in semi-private spaces for those down on their luck. Crucible was a short and leanly built envoy that met Bell at the door with a shake and a smile. They told the party to go see Smith at the Waters of Onatar, and if Smith approved them, they'd tell the party what they knew. Smith turned out to be a priest of Onatar guarding a mystic spring whose waters were blessed of the Caster in Bronze, and once taking a blessing with the party, he told them of his fears that House Cannith was harboring agents of the Dark Six. He asked the party to extend an invitation to d'Cannith Merrix to come take a blessing at the spring and offered the same to the group. They accepted, and the priest sent them back to Crucible with his approval. Crucible told the party that he'd arranged the deal between a forged named Lem and Gears. Crucible, knowing Gears had needed the money, proposed them as guards for a shipment that Lem had needed to make through Khyber's Gate, and that if it went well, there would be future business in it. Crucible had suspected it was dust, but had asked no questions, trusting Lem as a fellow forged that had also gotten the nod from Smith. When asked about the dust leaks, Crucible said they didn't take it and they trusted Gears not to do so, but they admitted they didn't know more than that. Another lead ended. As they returned back to the Heart and Hammer, though, Barrer caught up to them. She and Gears had gotten into a fight about Transom, and then Gears and Transom had fought, and Transom had stormed off. It was then that Spark and Bell agreed to talk to Gears, once they'd gotten Barrer's arm fixed. As Bell worked on Barrer's arm, the young forged repeated her claim that Transom had done only what she'd asked, that she had a defect in her metamatrix that let her push a piece of her inner spellworking outside herself to disrupt other magical effects. She could put out light spells by touching them, and she'd successfully caught Transom's magic missile twice before she missed and blew up her arm. As part of the repairs, Bell put a focusing lens in the palm of Barrer's arm, and Milli agreed to provide her a light to prove herself. As the party watched, Barrer demonstrated that she could, in fact, put out a spell by touching it, something that interested Zer and Relic greatly as a manifestation of her inner will. As Relic began to train the younger forged in form and technique, Spark and Bell went to Gears to inform them that they had something special in Barrer, but that they couldn't just keep treating her like porcelain. Gears spoke again of their fears of the future, of obsolescence and of destitution, but ultimately they agreed that Barrer needed training that they couldn't provide and they asked the party for help. Spark and Bell told Gears they'd look after Barrer, and they'd help the old forged find their footing again.
Crownsday, 11 Blooming, 998 Y.K. Barrer came late to the Heart and Hammer for her lessons, and when she arrived, she was too distracted to focus. Transom hadn't come back to the stable last night, and she had spent the night worrying about him. Spark took off to look for clues, only to have Transom's trail go cold at a bar near the screw elevator, accompanied with minor signs of a scuffle and smears of coal-dust. Spark called for Bell, and the two called for the party to follow them back into the Cogs. As Relic left the Heart and Hammer, he spotted Barrer trying to follow him, even after strictly telling her to stay behind. The party worked a small illusion to mask their destination, and Barrer followed the illusion of the group off into Cogsgate while they disappeared down the screw elevator to ask after a humming hobgoblin. Several buskers flat-out refused to answer, one going so far as to pack up and leave in response to the question. Finally, though, they met a goblin that said they must mean "Zhakil," and suggested that they ask around at "Shamukaar." The largest bar in Khyber's Gate was run by the Queen of Stone and had a reputation for strict neutrality, enforced by the threat of petrification. Inside, the bartender -- a hobgoblin named Nareyet -- laughed when the party spoke of a lost friend and reminded them that loved ones disappear every day in Khyber's Gate. When they asked to speak with Zhakil, however, she said she'd pass on the message and told the party to return tomorrow. She then offered Bell a pour of their house draft, a foul-smelling liquor and turned Milli's stomach on a whiff. "On the house," Nareyet insisted, and Bell agreed, promptly stepping outside and pouring the beer on the ground in full sight of the bar. That brought a laugh from Nareyet, which gave the party minor hope that they'd return to better news.
Thronesday, 12 Blooming, 998 Y.K. On returning to Shamukaar, the party found Nareyet no less irritating, insisting that the party come back tomorrow once more. This time, however, Bell and Spark refused to take no for an answer and demanded that time was short. Though Bell had to remind Spark that violence would get them killed, the massive forged was no less sharp with the bartender, insisting that taking Transom was an attack on their extended family. At that, Nareyet pointed to the corner table where Zhakil sat, watching the players carefully. The party approached and boxed Zhakil into her seat, but the hobgoblin remained unmoved. She said that orders had come from Cazha Bloodwing, and that she didn't lay a finger on Gears or his crew during the mission. Her job had been to find out who had taken their job. The party insisted on speaking with Cazha, and Zhakil stepped outside long enough to let out a piercing whistle. A few moments later, she returned and said Cazha would arrive shortly. True to Zhakil's word, a harpy entered the bar and walked directly to Zhakil's table, addressing the party as the scabs who'd stolen her job. She informed the party in no uncertain terms that she'd had a deal with Cinnabar to make Daask -- a criminal gang spanning western Khorvaire -- the sole provider of dust to Sharn. She even had a clasp-and-shake deal entitling her to a twenty-percent take off the top -- one wineskin in five -- to do with as she saw fit. As she saw it, Gears' involvement was already evidence the forged couldn't be trusted. As such, kidnapping Transom was simply her way of getting somebody's attention, shaking the tree to see who responded. If the forged were going to go back on their word so easily, she said, they should be ready to watch their collective backs. She was even eager to tell the party where Transom could be found: in the upper alcoves of the old temple, down in the lower sewers. If they could go in there and get their friend back, they could have him. In a moment of impulse, Zer tried to read the location of Gears' friend from her mind, but when he followed her thoughts to the upper alcoves, he found himself in a place of impenetrable darkness. There was no sign of Transom, but strange shapes moved through the darkness according to Zer's inner vision: a basilisk, at least, and other creatures the psion couldn't so easily identify. The presence of the basilisk was enough to send Zer back to the party, whereupon Cazha rose from the table, Zhakil following. The two walked to the front door, whereupon Cazha turned and reminded the party very pointedly that while Shamukaar was explicitly neutral territory, Khyber's Gate very much was not. The two then departed, leaving all eyes on the party as they carefully made their way back to the great screw elevator and to the surface, to prepare to recover Gears' missing comrade.
Report Date
23 Jun 2019
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